The Confusion Of Dragon Riley
by silkdash
Summary: Dragon Riley has fallen from the sky... How did he end up in this postition? Who is the mysterious Telmarine who later haunts his life? And, through the clamour of passing friendships, will he and his kindred spirit, Harriet, ever find happiness?


DISCLAIMER: NEITHER AUTHORS ARE C.S LEWIS, NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED. NOT WRITTEN FOR PROFITS.

_Jill Girl and I (Silkdash) came up with this story while playing a game of which we told a story, daying a line each! _

_Dedicated to the fantastical DragonE, who is Riley, Harriet, and the whole story in one body...except the Telmarine_!

Air rushed past his ears in rapids, the wind screaming in his ears... falling. He tumbled through the clouds, if only he could catch the wind with his wings, if he could only steady himself and press his weight down upon the air, he would be flying.

But he was not flying. His wings curled around his back, useless, as he hit the sheet of frothing water, the surface shattering into liquid shards as his claws met with the water. The frail breaking of the dagger waterfall turned his stomach. Cauldron Pool.

And so Dragon Riley went from falling to thrashing, his great, hardened body (no longer encased in the light locket of his wings) was twisting through the rapids of falling water, his wings splayed, desperately trying to keep his head above the water. Could he swim? Of course he couldn't! And so, as he remained in the water, spluttering and wheezing for short mouthfuls of air, his giant head thrown back, it was the most unlikely creatures who came to his rescue. The firm shackle of two roughened hands enclosing around his wrists were like music to his ears.

The odd looking pair of beasts stood before him, a donkey... and... an ape?

Beating frantically onto his thickly scaled back, the ape was the last thing Riley witnessed as the dark veil of sleep enveloped all vision.

_4:20, Riley has been taken to the Dragon medics._

Doctor one: Clear... zap!

Doctor two: Clear... zap!

Doctor three: "He lives!"

Riley gazed up onto the white tiled ceiling as he was wheeled down the corridor, the wheels gently squeaking as they rolled along on the smooth, cool floor. His wings were flopped over the arm rests of the wheel chair, picking up specks of dust as the tips dragged along the floor.

Riley looked out the window of his hospital room. He could see the sky turning from blue to pink. The sun was paling but the clouds were still ribbed with little shards of amber. Riley took it all in and sighed with content. He loved that kind of sky.

"You can go home now, Riley!"

Riley didn't know what to think.

"Riley?"

"Oh... yes, right. Home."

The nurse walked him to the door and told him to take care of himself. But in truth, he had no clue what he was going to do with himself.

So he walked and he walked... and just for a little change of pace he walked some more. It was not long until he arrived at some location, an empty town, moulded with narrow, winding roads that twisted up through the echoing streets. The place seemed to shudder with emptiness, who had lived here? He wondered.

He traipsed aimlessly over the damp, gravel road, nudging a stone with his claw. It was a long time before he found a glimmer of life, an elderly dragon with thinning scales, a homeless beast, like himself.

They lifted their snouts on greeting to one another, and spoke of briefly of how they had each come upon the ghost town. It was in mid conversation that they arranged something that would benefit them both, that would dilute their solitude and cast them each with something to live by.

The Fire Breathing Acrobatics show took place on the Sunday, they had walked into the city and pinned up an advertisement that stated what would be happening, the hour of which to arrive, the location (which was a long out of business and abandoned cinema) and the price of whatever the onlooker thought they were deserving of.

"Bravo!"

Riley cast a breath of flame through the narrow, steel ring, setting it alight in an instant. His partner plunged through the blazing ring and let his wings lift him lightly onto the narrow platform that passed as a stage.

The audience exploded in wild applause, showering the pair in flowers, and cloaking them in shouts of admiration and praise! A hat was passed along the rows of people, brimful of silver coins. In the clamour of noise and rushing to plead their autograph, Riley turned at a timid touch on the tip of his

wing. He looked down, and felt his heart swell. The little girl that gazed up at him was familiar in every way, her eyes were bright and broken with tears.

"Oh Riley! Oh Riley, I thought you were dead..." She buried her head into his scales and they walked away, wing in hand. "We had a new room for you, with a bathroom and everything, it was purple, I know how you love purple! It was all ready, but then we found out you were dragon-napped and..." She trailed off...

They walked all day until they got back to the beginning, to their home. But, they were greeted with devastation and ruin, for, through the splitting windows of their home, a great and roaring fire was swallowing up the whole house in it's might and anger. As the thickened flames licked the splitting roof, their home and memories crumbled into white ash.

Riley puffed thoughtlessly onto the mass of flames trying in his desperation to urge the fire to flatten and die, but of course, he only added more to the destruction, more and more until the whole of their little village was no more. No one met their death, for they had all spied the beginnings of the fire and rushed out into the street, watching helplessly as their livelihood, their place of growth, grew further and further from them.

Riley beckoned as many as he could carry onto his back, and they remained there, weeping for their great loss as he flew them to the ghost town. He flew there and back until the entire population of the village (which was in fact barely seventy) had arranged themselves into a house suitable for their families.

It was not his heart that was tumbling over with guilt, but his mind, for the knowledge that he had provoked a flame into the abolishment of his entire village... it was the knowledge shadowed his thoughts with grief.

Eventually the village settled with ease into their alien surroundings. All was well, until one dim morning when the clouds were clogged with mist, someone paid Harriet and Riley a visit. A very particular visit that brought with it danger.

The Telmarine came in black. "We meet again, Dragon." He spat. Alas, he was the Dragon Napper.

I will not go into depths of what next occurred. The Telmarine was caught with a vast, sturdy butterfly net, he was made to down a rich love potion, and cast under a romance with a rather unfortunate pebble.

Harriet and Riley hurled the pebble over a peak, and he left them in peace- flapping his arms toward Switzerland.

~Epilogue~

_Harriet sails down the street, her hat has slipped off her head and is hanging loose by the cornflower ribbon around her neck, bouncing against her shoulder blades as she tumbles forth on a pair of young, clumsy feet down the cobblestone road. The sun catches her face, dazzling her vision in fierce white light for a moment, setting her strawberry hair ablaze in the midday heat, illuminating each freckle as if an angel had flecked them onto her skin with a paintbrush. Her shoes are scuffed at the toe from running the same route every evening, her toes wriggling between the frayed soles... her fingertips are dry with dust and mud, and her elbows have been marked with grit and sand... and yet, she has never looked so beautiful._

_She looks down the hill and laughs, Riley is waiting for her. Before he can barely blink she is stood at his side, her sun blessed forehead now dappled from the shards of sunlight bouncing off Riley's scales, a flurry of crystal blues, whites, and shivering emeralds that dance across her face like a rainbow in the ocean. Clambering up onto his back, she settles into the familiar shape of his arched back, curling her fingers around his pale horns and bracing herself for a journey into the skies._

"_Where would you like to go today?"_


End file.
